How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Armand was an absolute star! Knowledgeable, fun, caring, he always had a big smile for us and his passion and love for Madagascar was simply infectious!  

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

If you are reasonably fit and enjoy being active, make sure you join the optional activities. The optional walk in Isalo is incredible, although not recommended if you are scared of heights.  Make sure you have the right gear, there is a reason why it is called rainforest! Waterproofs and a good pair of walking boots are essential.

 

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Excellent, friendly, always helpful and with a good knowledge of the area.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

Be prepared for pandemonium on arrival at Antananarivo Airport and need to get and carry money for whole trip. Diarrhea was a problem for many.

Do you have anything else to add?

Busy booking another Explore! trip!

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Heri was brilliant. He had a few issues to deal with. One person's luggage failed to arrive, one was scalded ina hot shower and one sadly had her money stolen. He dealt with it all with calmness, kindness, efficiency, professionalism. He was unfailingly cheerful. Thanks Heri, you made the trip for us.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

Be prepared for quite a lot of bus travelling, some lemur hunting days need a reasonable level of fitness. Prices are low. Drink bottled water and probably  best to avoid salad.

Do you have anything else to add?

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How was your Explore Tour Leader?

"Armand  Rakotonoely Naivosaona very good: very well organised, polite, knowledgeable, attentive, tactful Armand wrote for us notes every day with info about what we saw each day. He enhanced them with his drawings as well as those of a fellow traveller."

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

Don't expect a comfort of travel/accommodation e.g no air con on the bus. Wildlife: you see some but it may not always be possible to see what you wanted. Do not eat eat raw veg: 10 out of 14 had stomach upset - from a mild to a severe level. Be always vigilant: my camera was stolen from a very smart hotel 'Jardin du Roy' near the Isalo Nat. Park (it was the only time that I did not lock my suitcase and cleaners had access to the room). Bring old clothes, pens etc to give away to locals. Drink a lot of water! Take medication- more than you need (we ran out of imodium tablets, paracetamol). Take ear stoppers: Malagasy Airlines aircrafts' engines are very noisy and we had a headache after an hour flight.

Do you have anything else to add?

"I liked Anakao, but the reef there isn't rich in tropical fish. The guide called Theo in the Ranomafana National Park was, I felt, a little self-aggrandising as he kept mentioning that he is in the Lonely Planet guide. Provide better transport: air con, shelves inside for storing small items otherwise it's all on the floor with straps tangled between legs. An ice box to keep drinks cool on the bus is needed.
The driver was very good.
Toliara isn't overly attractive and the hotel is far from the centre. While the guide went to the spiny forest with the group I stayed in the hotel because it was too hot! I would have preferred staying in Anakao until departure to Tana. Tana hotel didn't provide accommodation for the driver, he had to sleep on the bus!"

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Excellent! Armand was a fount of information, a bottomless well of energy, patient and took care of all of use wonderfully well.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

Bring wet wipes for the stay at the community dormitory. The outdoor showers were not at all welcoming!

Do you have anything else to add?

Firstly, two nights in Anakao was one too many. It was very windy, so it was not possible to sit on the beach. Also the inhabitants in the village next door used the beach as their toilet, so I had no inclination to go into the sea. I would suggest one night in Anakao and the second night as an option to stay in Anakao or in Tulear. Secondly, on our last day at Au Bois Vert lodge I found out that the lodge didn't provide any accommodation for our drivers and would not allow them to use the lodge facilities so that our drivers couldn't even have a shower. I found this treatment of the drivers totally unacceptable and urge Explore as a socially responsible organisation to find a better arrangement for the drivers on future tours.

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Hery was very informative about the wildlife, flora and the Malagasy people.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

Go with an open mind and contribute to the Malagasy ecomony to help with preserving what is left.  Be prepared for a couple of long days in the bus but it was worth it!

Do you have anything else to add?

As usual Explore organised a well balanced trip.  The group had a mix of interests and this trip hopefully satisfied everyone.

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Very good. Excellent local knowledge and very good English.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

"The first few days are in the highlands and they were pretty cool in September you do need a fleece. Also the tour is pretty energetic at the start. The highland area trails are not easy walking. Get fit and take good walking boots.
There are more early starts than late mornings."

Do you have anything else to add?

"You should regrade its activity level from 2 to 3. Having done two of your active/walking holidays I can confidently say that the forest walks on this were every bit as demanding as the ones on the N Cyprus walking holiday and much more so than 'active slovenia.' (apart from the voluntary high meadow walk on that trip) A lot of  ups and downs."

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Claude gave us loads of information and is obviously very proud of his country and this came across. Sometimes seat rotation on the bus wasn't pointed out and there did seem sometimes,certain people always managed to get the front seats. This didn't affect me but did feel there was preferential treatment with the allocation of the single room. ie one person(who'd done a previous tour and joined us) managed to get the single for a longer time and in a particularly super hotel This person did point this out herself but Claude insisted the others would also get the single room - point is this person got 3 consequitive nights and the other women got one offs.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

Be aware that to see some of the lemurs, it is rainforest and there are leeches!!! Also quite uphill climbs at times.

Do you have anything else to add?

The two drivers on the bus were excellent, always cheerful and most of all very good drivers. Not just Claude but some of the other guides, would give information to the people nearest to them and forget that those further back couldn't hear and by the time they caught up, the guide had moved on, therefore, missing the relevant information. The 8 hour lay-over at Nairobi airport was horrendous, it's probably the worst airport in the world I've ever been to. Going out was fine with the time difference.

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

He seemed very well (joke). Seriously, Hery was charming, employing his diplomatic background to the full while unobtrusively doing a job which, at times, must be acutely frustrating. An honest introduction to a fascinating country. It was an absolute pleasure to travel with him.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

"Take warm clothes, waterproofs, boots. September in Antsirabe was cold and wet.
Take cold clothes, suntan lotion, hat and sandals. September in Anakao was hot and very dry. Keep an open mind. There's much more to Madagascar than lemurs - it's not quite like David Attenborough portrayed it. Don't worry about snakes - none are poisonous. Try speaking to Malagasy people - my 1960s 'O' level French was just about adequate for a simple exchange. Buy stuff from hawkers on the streets - a string of ropy beads you don't really want, a piece of embroidery, a polished stone or a scruffy postcard from a kid will cost you very little - but mean a lot. They don't do as well as the stall holders in markets, but they are not begging. "

Do you have anything else to add?

This was a very long journey, and tiring. Madagascar has huge environmental problems, the people are very poor. It took me a few weeks on my return to realise what a remarkable experience I had had, for unexpected reasons.

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Hari was excellent. He knew so much about the fauna and integrated the whole party

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

Be prepared for lots of walking up and down- even to your hotel room.

Do you have anything else to add?

Madagascar is a wonderful Island but it is a large island - so there is alot of travelling. It is worth it though.

We have travelled a lot in Africa - always on big game safari, this trip does not have the drama of   the "bush". The lemurs are "cute" but the best bit is "bush walking" thru the forest to find them - I wish there had been more of that. This was my first "rainforest " experience and to be honest I was a bit disappointed, I expected to see much more wildlife/ birdlife than we did - lots of pretty birds and other creatures were few and far between, or was it my expectation that was too much?  For me and my husband there was too much travelling in a quite cramped vechicle - I enjoyed the roadside entertainment but my husband thought too much road covered for not enough WOW factor at the end. The accomodation is execellent - some great places to stay probably the best we have had on an explore trip - this was our 5th - the food was OK but a lot of the group got serious tummy bugs which meant they were laid low for a couple of days and made us a bit scared to be adventurous with the food. Sarah our tour leader was brilliant - I would go on any Explore tour with her she knows how to have a good time but still do her job brilliantly.  We are not beach people but the nights at the end on the beach were fab (MD - 6th november 2010)

An excellent trip in a wonderful country with fabulous sightings of lemurs, chameleon, spiders and snakes. Accommodation was good, although we had a few issues with water pressure and loo seats. The food was good and varied from hotel to hotel, although breakfasts of french bread and jam were a little boring. Most of us got upset digestive systems.  Although the poverty was clear to see, locals were very friendly and welcoming, and we only got pestered for sweets a couple of times. Due to the unrest in the country we tended to stay in the hotel in the evening and not go out after dark. Best memories - seeing the lemurs so close and for such a long time - it wasn't just a quick view of brown and a rustle of leaves; the sound of the Indri across the forest was haunting, but best of all was walking through the thick forest, clinging to branches as we headed off the path downhill, stopping suddenly and the guide pointing to 3 nocturnal lemur sitting in the V of the trunk. Magic. (MD - 6th October 2010)

I went to Madagascar to see the dancing siffarka and was told maybe we will not see this wonderful animal, but on the last day we saw them and i have some wonderful photos and they had babies travelling on their backs - what a joy (MD -6th October 2010)

An excellent tour! The Tour Leader, Claude was very knowledgeable, helpful, considerate and did everything he could to make the tour brilliant for everyone. It's hard to pick out a "highlight" - the wildlife in all the reserves was stunning - so much to see. The accommodation was much better that I had expected. The food was also very good and I liked the local beer. (MD- 21st July 2010)

I went to Madagascar to fulfill my ambition of seeing Lemurs and other unique fauna and flora there, but the trip was so much more. The trip from the cold and damp highlands to the toasting hot beaches in the South was so much more than expected - stunning.  And what is always so valuable on Explore trips: the political and social circumstances of the country and it's present vulnerable position explained and brought home by the excellent guides all along the trip. Very memorable, I would recommend anyone to visit. (MD- 21st July 2010)

If you're thinking about travelling to Madagascar, don't think Safari. In fact, it's probably best not to think Africa at all. Because Madagascar is different. So why did we make this particular trip? Well, I first got interested because I wanted to see lemurs - simple as that. And chameleons. To our delight, these and more we saw. And, also to our delight, we found there's much, much more to Madagascar than just these! Don't expect huge expanses of wilderness. The National Parks and Reserves, while a marvellous part of the trip, are relatively small and scattered. In between the land is almost all cultivated by a young and rapidly growing population. So as well as being an island of wildlife, Madagascar is a people island. And with so many different tribes and influences, such a range of climate and topography, the landscape that's evolved is a fascinating and ever changing one. There is, still, slash and burn, there are terraced rice paddies and semi-nomadic herders wandering dusty plains. Down on the coast there are fishermen still using traditional boats. Along the way, we find colonial towns and native villages. We find tourist markets waiting for the gullible, and country markets where tourists rarely go. Mostly, we find people finding ways to survive - some digging paddy fields by hand, some digging man-killing mines in search of sapphires. There is certainly poverty on this ill-run island (a coup in early 2009 hasn't helped). But the people, like our guide Hery, believe in education and have hope. Whether that hope, or the island's undoubted beauty, will survive a continuing population explosion, who knows. Perhaps it's a case of 'see it now before it's gone'. I look back at the journal I wrote at the time. "It's been only two weeks," I wrote, "but we've seen and done so much that's new and unfamiliar that it feels much, much longer. Now, back home, it seems somehow wrong that nothing seems to have changed here. Except maybe us." I can't add to that. My tips? Just go with the flow and take things as they come. And if you ever knew any French, try and remember it - most of the locals speak at least some. (MD- 1st November 2009)